Page:Aristotle (Grant).djvu/206

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
196
EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF ARISTOTLE.

historical point of view—that the works of the Stagirite continue to be studied. As long as the process of higher education in modern Europe consists so largely in imbuing the mind with the literature of classical antiquity, so long will a study of certain works of Aristotle remain as one of the last stages of that process. Those works—especially the 'Rhetoric,' 'Art of Poetry,' 'Ethics,' and 'Politics'— have a remarkable educational value. They form an introduction to philosophy; they invite comparison of ancient and modern ways of thinking; they offer rich stores of information as to human nature—so much the same in all ages; and they train the mind to follow the Aristotelian method of analytic insight. This method consists in concentration of the mind upon the subject in hand, marshalling together all the facts and opinions attainable upon it, and dwelling on these and scrutinising and comparing them till a light flashes on the whole subject. Such is the procedure to be learnt, by imitation, from Aristotle.

END OF ARISTOTLE.

PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.